16 to 6, how did that happen?
by SageK
Summary: from a prompt on the glee fluff meme: De-aged!fic, in which all of glee club turns back into their elementary school selves and Will has to babysit them until it wears off. Complete silliness abounds!
1. Chapter 1

Not one of his professors had ever mentioned this as a possibility when they discussed the challenges facing today's educators. Drugs, violence, gangs, complete and total disdain for teachers (meaning himself)… these were the things college prepared Will Schuester to face. He could spot, and was 1 for 2 in dealing with, really scary schoolgirl crushes, knew how to console a freaked out teen who had just discovered he was going to be a parent, then later found out that was not the case at all and most of the kids didn't seem to actively loathe him.

Okay, so Sue Sylvester seemed to constantly be devising new and more vicious ways to sabotage Glee club and he had to admit that the reign of terror she had presided over at McKinley High was unprecedented and impressive in it's own sick, twisted, evil fashion. Briefly, he wondered if Sue was behind this latest…he didn't even know how to categorize this, but he doubted even she would be able to manage something so….

Clearly, drugs were involved, because he was seeing things and he knew he hadn't intentionally taken anything…so, yeah, he wouldn't put it past Sue to drug him, but she was more of a slow poison type of person, not whatever hallucinogen this was. Terri was more of an OTC decongestant and NyQuil sort of woman and he hadn't seen Sandy Ryerson lurking around campus lately, though Ken Tanaka did buy from him….

All this flew through Will's mind as he stood at the front of the Glee room, staring at his kids…One moment, the chairs had been filled with the usual, fresh faced teenagers, laughing and chatting, the next….

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!"

It was odd hearing a little, mohawked boy of about six swear so vehemently. Obviously, being small had not affected Puck's personality as he processed the situation and reacted in a spilt second, whipping around to stare at the other members of the Glee Club, who also seemed to be missing a decade or so each. He moved so quickly that he tumbled off of his chair, unused to the equilibrium of a child's body.

Oddly, and fortunately, the clothes that they had been wearing had all shrunken down as well. Everyone was upset enough without clothing drama. Rachel, tiny, loafered feet dangling in the air, was hyperventilating in her seat. A chubby, pint sized Finn was staring at his small hands, forehead crinkled in thought while Artie speculatively poked his legs with a finger. Tina, Matt and Mike all seemed to be frozen, staring at each other, mouths opening as if about to speak, then snapping closed silently. Kurt, who now looked a bit like an actual Hummel figurine, and Mercedes appeared to be poking and pinching each other to see if this was real. Quiet tears were streaming down Quinn's cherry cheeks and Santana looked to be stuck between shock and anger.

Only Brittany was acting as though nothing abnormal had happened, but maybe she simply hadn't notice yet. Sometimes Will envied that girl.

There were scuffling sounds as Puck righted himself, cussing a blue streak, and peered over the back of the chair in front of him. In any other circumstance, the round, brown eyes and mini Mohawk peering over the ugly orange plastic would have been comical, but this was…he had no idea what this was.

Shaking himself, Will said, "Puck, stop swearing. Rachel, calm down before you faint. You two, stop pinching each other….Quinn, don't cry. This is…It will be fine. I promise."

"FINE! NOTHING ABOUT THIS IS FINE!"

Puck still seemed to be the only one capable of speech and he was very loud. At least Rachel's gasping had slowed.

"Why are you so upset?" Brittany asked, peeking over at Puck, normally innocent expression even more cherubic that usual.

This stirred Santana from her shocked daze and she spun so quickly he ponytail swung around and whapped her in the face. "If you haven't noticed, Brit, we're all kids!"

The blond shrugged. "So? We find the witch that cast the spell, and make her fix it."

Again, Will envied Brittany and wished it were only that easy to fix whatever the hell this was.


	2. Chapter 2

Being a little kid had been fun. Even school hadn't been too bad, what with coloring, recess and show and tell. The confusing things like math and reading had even been tolerable, as the school even had a special teacher to help her until she grasped the basic concepts.

So while everyone else was busy freaking out over the fact that they were kids again, Brittany chose to look on the bright side of things. Besides, if she had learned anything from watching reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed, you need a witch to reverse a spell, usually the one that cast it. Maybe, if they couldn't figure out who changed them back into little kids, they could get the witch from Buffy to fix them. Brittany knew she was on another show now, but she wasn't playing a witch, so maybe she'd like a chance to use her magic again.

All around the room, the others were either sitting there in shock, being loud and upset or, in Mr. Schue's case, speaking urgently into his cell phone. She was pretty sure she'd heard him say Emma a few times. That was Ms. Pillsbury. Brittany didn't know what he expected her to be able to do. She was pretty sure witches did not smell like bleach and flowery soap.

Looking out the window, she smiled, realizing she was now small enough to use all the playground equipment again. There were some new things she had always wanted to try, but Santana had told her they were too old to play with. Surely they could go out and play on them now! Shifting her gaze to the others, she wondered who would want to play with her.

She, Santana and Quinn had been friends since before they were this age the first time. They had spent many a summer day in the park, playing on the big, wooden play structures. Quinn might play, but she wouldn't want to mess up her pretty blue dress. Santana still looked angry, but Brittany though it was cool that their Cheerio's uniforms had gotten little when they had.

Tina hadn't lived in Lima when they were this age before, so Brittany didn't know if she'd want to go outside. The streaks of color in her hair and vivid make up looked so strange on a little kid, but it was Tina, so it actually fit. Artie seemed upset and she figured it was because his legs still weren't working. Back when they were kids, he hadn't been in a wheelchair but she guessed it was like Tina's stripes and Puck's Mohawk. They'd had those as teens and now still had them as kids.

She blinked and looked over at Puck, who was walking back and forth like a tiger she had seen on a nature show. She wondered if he still had his nipple ring…that would be weird…as would a pregnant six year old. Her head swiveled back to Quinn, but the other blond was pressing a hand to her once again flat tummy. Huh. Well, it made sense. A six year old just couldn't be pregnant, no matter if she was really a teenager under a spell.

Matt, Mike and Finn looked just how she remembered them, back when their idea of entertainment had been stuffing frogs down the back of girls shirts…no, they wouldn't be her first choice as playmates. Kurt and Mercedes were babbling at each other and some of the words Kurt was using confused her, like regression and biological imperative. Nope.

Rachel was still sitting in her seat, taking gulping breaths and clutching the sides of her chair in tiny fists. Between her size (she was the smallest of all of them, though Kurt and Tina were both pretty little) and her outfit, she looked a bit like a doll. She and Rachel had taken dance together for years! Maybe, if Rachel calmed down, they could dance! It would be lots of fun.

Hopping down from her chair, Brittany bounced over to Rachel and said, "Hi, Rachel! This is really weird, huh?"

The brunette turned big, shocked brown eyes at her and let out a shaky laugh. "Yeah, weird."

She was talking. That was good. "So…I'm bored want to dance?"

Rachel blinked at her, then clasped her hands over her mouth as she burst into giggles, then startled Brittany by grabbing her in a hug. That was okay, she decided. Hugs were nice.


	3. Chapter 3

Emma hurried down the hall, worried and confused by Will's phone call. He hadn't been making a lot of sense and she had to admit Will was often very high energy, but he had been upset and the confused rambles had sounded truly urgent.

She heard someone shouting and flung open the door, throwing caution to the wind as her own concern grew. Only a few steps into the room, she froze, coral Moss Rose Mary Janes coming to a stop on the linoleum as though they had suddenly encountered a puddle of superglue.

It wasn't the dozen small children (adorable, but potential germ factories) milling around, even if some of them looked eerily familiar. She had no clue why they were in a high school, but that was all secondary.

Will was standing at the front of the room, eyes wide, fixed on her with a sort of desperation. What was so unusual was the fact that he looked like he'd lost a decade somewhere in the hour since she'd last seen him. The change was subtle, but clear if you knew Will's face as well as she did…fine lines and wrinkles had vanished and his skin had a bright, youthful glow. If she had to guess his age, she'd say, 22, maybe 23...which was wrong, wrong, wrong.

"Will, what…?" she looked from him to the children, not even sure what to ask first. This all seemed to make no sense.

"I have no idea!" He was obviously still freaked out. He crossed over to the door and shut it quickly, then spun, his back against the door before saying. "One minute, everything was normal, then next…."

He waved his hands expressively at the little kids, which made Emma turn and look more closely at them.

She made several immediate observations. 1. They were much cleaner than most small children, none of them having that sticky, food and drink covered look of many that age. 2. About half of the looked like they were in shock. 3. …Oh. My. GOD.

The two little girls in their tiny, matching Cheerio uniforms. A little boy in a military inspired red jacket, pants tucked into knee high leather boots. Boy with a potty mouth and a Mohawk…little guy in an oversized wheelchair…blue streaks in a girls hair.

"Oh!" she breathed, hands coming up to cover her mouth in shock. "Oh, wow…oh, this can't be real…how…"

"How is this possible?"

If the knee socks and now even briefer skirt weren't a clue, the big voice issuing from the smallest child present would have identified Rachel Berry to anyone who had ever known the girl.

If she didn't know that Lou the janitor didn't sterilize his mop between rooms (cause really, who used the same mop to clean the floor in the boy's bathrooms as well as the rest of the school?), she might have fainted. It was one of the first times her germ phobias helped her retain some modicum of cool. Life was funny that way.


	4. Chapter 4

After the initial shock of finding himself in a version of his body he hadn't seen in about a decade, several thoughts occurred to Noah Puckerman. First, no way was he going to have to take his math mid term tomorrow. Second, he was at an age where he could ask for a hug from a chick, bury his face in her cleavage and not get slapped for it. Third, well, shit, until he got back to normal, there's no way he was getting laid. Even his cougars wouldn't lay a hand on him looking like this.

But from the looks of things at the front of the room, Ms. Pillsbury might be considering giving cougar-hood a try with Mr. Schue, who looked about college age. To each their own, he guessed, but personally, he preferred women who didn't smell like disinfectant.

"This is seriously messed up." He heard Finn mutter that to Artie, who nodded solemnly.

Puck thought it pretty much sucked that Artie was still stuck in the chair. For a Gleek, Artie was a cool guy, could seriously kick ass on bass, which Puck gave him props for. Then again, would it be worse if he could walk, then when whatever this was faded or was fixed, he'd be back in the chair?

He hated when he thought about stuff like that, but since joining Glee club, he found it happening more and more often. It was so much easier when all he had to think about was sex, football and his fight club. He figured Rachel had enough crazy that a little bit had rubbed off on each of them. That had to be it.

"I'm hoping it's a mass hallucination," Artie was telling Finn. "It's not out of the realm of possibility that some laced the Hungarian Goulash Casserole with LSD or something."

Puck was pretty sure Finn wasn't gonna follow all of that, but he could see the wheels turning in the miniaturized quarterback's head. Well, he supposed that was one bonus for being this size. As a 16 year old, Finn wasn't the sharpest crayon in the box, but he was smarter than most 6 year olds. If they had to stay this size for any length of time, that'd be a new feeling for Finn….

With a smirk, Puck wondered if he'd have the opportunity to freak people out. Maybe, if he could slip away, he'd try out some of the more colorful phrases in his vocabulary, just to watch adults freak over that sort of language coming out of a cute little kid.

And he knew he was a cute kid.

"So…You don't think it was a witch?"

"No, Finn," Artie sighed. Puck had to admire the guy's patience.

Glancing around the room, he paused for a moment to watch Brittany standing in front of Rachel's chair, bouncing happily as though this hadn't affected her in the least. Maybe it hadn't, he considered. Like Finn, she seemed to live in a world blissfully free of deep thoughts. Not that Puck was saying he was deep. No, not at all. He was perfectly content to wade in the shallow end with the majority of boys his age.

But he'd never been tested to see if he belonged on the short bus with the window lickers.

Rachel was also peering at the pint sized Cheerio with a sort of fascinated horror. She hadn't spoken since she'd asked a dumbfounded Miss. Pillsbury how this was possible, which was kinda worrying. Rachel was never quite. He was pretty sure the girl would talk even if she fell into a coma.

Quickly, he looked away. He didn't want to be the one who had to deal with Rachel's…whatever.

Matt and Mike were acting pretty much like themselves. Mike seemed to be looking down his pants to check his junk, but that was not an unheard of action. Matt had his phone out and was snapping pictures of all of them. He put it down when he caught Puck's scowling face in his view finder.

"What?" Matt asked with a shrug. "Like anyone's ever gonna believe this! I was just getting photographic evidence."

"Why would you want to tell anyone about this?" Puck asked, waving an arm to encompass the room. "It's…."

"Wrong," Santana interrupted forcefully. "It's wrong and if someone doesn't fix this I'm gonna golpear a alguien abajo!"

Pausing his hushed, frantic conversation, Mr. Schuester looked over at Santana and said, "No kicking anyone's ass, Santana."

Puck raised an eyebrow and looked at the dark haired Cheerio for a moment before nodding. Midget or not, she was still rocking a truly scary bitch face and he didn't doubt that she'd fight dirty. She proved as much by stretching out one thin arm and punching Mike in the ribs as she hissed, "Stop that! It's still there!"

Mike gave her a look and said, "Yeah, but we're kid sized again!"

She paused, expression growing even more thunderous. "Mierda! I am not going through puberty again."

Looking younger than his kid sister wasn't a thought that appealed to Puck and he frowned.

Nearby, Tina had drifted over to join the cabal that was Kurt and Mercedes and seemed to be having her own mini melt down. "What are we going to tell our folks?" she groaned, prompting Mercedes to bury her face in her hands.

"My parent's are never gonna be able to handle this," she muttered and Kurt reached over to pat her back consolingly. Puck had totally forgotten that Kurt had been blonder as a little kid. It was a little creepy how much Hummel looked like one of those Von Trapp kids from the Sound of Music.

What? So he'd seen the Sound of Music. Julie Andrews was hot back in the day.

"You know, I think my dad can handle just about anything," Kurt said when the girls looked at him to see if he shared their fears. At their incredulous stares, he shrugged and asked, "What? He's pretty good at rolling with the punches."

Mercedes and Tina exchanged glances and the former said, "Your dad is seriously cool."

"He'll probably just haul my old cover alls out of storage and tell me not to try to work the hydraulic jack in the garage myself," Kurt said with a shaky laugh, obviously trying to use humor to lighten the situation.

Puck caught part of the sentence and perked up. "Garage? Dude, is your dad Burt Hummel? My truck died over the summer and he got it running great. Nice guy?"

Wrinkling his tiny, turned up nose, Kurt looked at Puck, "You thought what? The last name was a coincidence."

With a shrug, Puck said, "Honestly, I didn't think about it."

"Fair enough," Kurt said, then cocked his head. "But, FYI, I was the one who put in the new bearings. You'd worn the old ones down and the crankshaft couldn't turn. That's why you engine wasn't starting."

Finding out that underneath the manicures and designer clothes, Kurt Hummel was some sort of genius grease monkey was actually weirder than the fact that they had somehow been whammed back to pre-pre-pubescence. At least, that was Puck's opinion.

TBC……………

Reviews Please!!!


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